As described more fully in the above-identified application, a ski which is released from a ski boot on a slope can engage in free flight and, at high speeds, poses a danger to other skiers. For this reason it has been proposed to provide a strap or the like to retain the ski on the leg of the skier even if the ski boot should become detached from the ski in a fall or other accident.
It has also been proposed to provide skis with automatic brakes which are retained in their inoperative positions by application of the ski boots against the skis, e.g. against a spring force tending to bias a brake element into an operative position. The actuator may be a spring wire engaged by the toe or heel of the ski boot when the latter is received properly in the ski binding. The actuator is provided with one or two brake elements which can be constituted as blades and swing from their inoperative positions in which they engage the ground and prevent free flight of the ski when the actuator is released by the ski boot.
Such devices are termed hereinafter generically as "ski brakes". As indicated, such ski brakes have an actuator which is biased under a primary spring force from the inoperative position toward the operative position and a mounting plate whereby the brake can be fixed to the upper surface of the ski.
In one such brake, which is mounted behind the binding in a bearing or journal arrangement, the pivot axis includes an acute angle with the longitudinal axis of the ski and the basic spring force is generated by a torsion spring acting upon the blade-like brake element.
In another conventional construction, leaf springs are secured at their forward ends to the ski and at their rearward ends tend to bend upwardly when they are unloaded. Upon loading by the ski boot, these spring elements are urged toward the upper surface of the ski to swing the blades into positions in which they are generally parallel to the ski edges (see Austrian Patent 299,036).
Austrian Patent Nos. 280,867 and 210,804 described other ski brakes which are somewhat more remote from the structure of the present application than even the prior-art devices mentioned above and hence require no detailed discussion.
In another ski brake (see Austrian Pat. No. 305,844) a spring, upon the release of an actuator, rotates a shaft lying transversely of the ski about the axis of the shaft to bring the brake element into its operative position.
A ski brake mounted upon a support plate affixed to the upper surface of a ski is described in German published application (Offenlegungsschrift) No. 2,417,279.
In one recess of this support plate, a round-section wire is pivotally journaled and is formed as a pivot shaft. One end of the circular-section wire forms a brake spur while another region of the wire is bent into a retaining hoop, the free end of the hoop being formed as a second shaft journaled in a further recess of the support plate.
The construction requires that the two journaling recesses in the support plate be exactly parallel, a requirement which increases the fabrication cost and causes differences with respect to mounting or operation if the requirement is not met. The two recesses impart an elastic prestress to the circular-section wire so that the braking spur automatically springs into the operative position when the wire is released by the ski boot.